Putting Up Walls
by SparkleInTheSun
Summary: Two of their own have been taken, with no actual clues other than a video, how will the team find them? & If they do, will it be too late? Emily/JJ friendship. Possible Hotch/JJ. Read & Review!
1. Nightmares sometimes come to life

**Chapter One**

"Everything is going to be okay, we will get out of here soon." Emily whispered to her friend, she looked over at the blonde and sighed when she got no answer, she watched as tears fell down her pale face, she longed to wrap her arms around her and let her know she was here to help her, she wanted to tell her that she would get through this, they would both be found and they would be safe. She silently cursed the ropes binding her to the chair,

"JJ please say something..." She closed her eyes and put her head back in frustration, they had both been tied down in this cellar for over six days now and JJ hadn't said one word since day one. She opened her eyes and shook her head,

"Look, this is stupid. Tell me if you're hurt or something...." Still no answer, she could see the usually strong agent breaking down, she could see it in her face, she knew they had to get out of here soon before JJ had a complete mental breakdown, if she hadn't already had one.

"What happened before we got here?" Emily didn't know why she asked it, she had asked too many times in the past few days and had never got an answer from the silent blonde, and it hadn't changed. She could only guess, it must have been horrible for JJ to act like this. Emily was asleep when they took her, it looked like JJ had been awake through the process, she had been able to put up a fight, Emily had never known what was coming, and then she woke up in a dark room, with one of her best friends sitting next to her, both staring at the wall in front of them, both tied to a chair.

Emily looked down at the floor for a moment, trying to think of a way to get her friend to speak, wondering if it was worth it but she couldn't stay like this in silence for any longer. She would end up going mad..

They both jumped when the large door opened, revealing four men with guns, and massive grins on their faces. JJ shook her head and looked at the floor, trying to avoid all eye contact with the men who had taken them almost a week ago. Emily looked them straight in the eyes, ignoring the fear she felt for them, she was strong, she had to prove to them she wasn't scared, she had to make sure they didn't break both of them.

"Ready for some camera fun?" One of the men said as he walked over to JJ and lifted her head up so she was looking at him, Emily noticed JJ immediately shifted her eyes so she wouldn't have to look him in the eyes, so she didn't have to look at him at all. He laughed at her and backhanded her as hard as he could, Emily gasped, shocked at the sudden violence, but even more shocked by the lack of emotion in JJ's face, she didn't cry and she didn't even look like it had hurt. She stared at the bright red mark forming on her face and shook her head, wishing he would just leave her alone, they would never be able to 'fix' her when they got out of this if he carried on hurting her, they would never be able to help her get through this when their team found them both.

She looked at the men as they started to set up a video camera facing the two women, she shook her head and looked at them, what were they going to do?

"You're friends are a little worried about you both, I think we should give them some reassurance, don't you think?" Emily slowly nodded and looked at the white cards the one man held in his hands,

"You want us to speak?" She gulped, quickly looking over at JJ, what would they do to her once she refused to make any vocal input for their sordid video?

"JJ hasn't spoken since we got here... I don't think she can..." She whispered, crying out in pain when the man pulled her back by her hair,

"Well she will have to find her voice then, won't she?" Emily nodded and closed her eyes in pain, trying to force the tears back, wanting them to fall when they weren't here, when they wouldn't be able to get the satisfaction of watching one of the strongest agents breakdown, she wouldn't let them do that to her, they wouldn't get two out of two of them to go into a complete mental breakdown. She had to be strong, if not for herself but for JJ.

JJ looked over at them and then at the camera, the white cards in his hands, the black printed words on them... she shook her head as tears ran down her face, she was weak, too weak to have to go through this, this wasn't supposed to happen. When did everything become so personal? They only do their job, is it their fault that people commit crimes?

"This is your warning, you're going to do what we say, both of you and if you don't there will be punishments." Emily and JJ nodded slowly and looked as the cards were held up, the camera turned on and the gun held up towards them.

Emily spoke first, glancing from the men to JJ every few seconds, worried that JJ wouldn't be able to find her voice, worried about what could happen to her if she didn't speak, would this be the last time she saw her best friend alive? She shuddered at the thought, closing her eyes and hoping that JJ would do the best thing for herself,

"Last year we all worked on a case in which there were over ten victims, all of which were women in their early 20's... We made a profile as we usually do and then we finally caught the man... only we had the wrong person." JJ looked at the camera, trying to find her press voice, knowing it was in there somewhere, wishing she could find it and find it quickly. The pause between her and Emily's speaking parts were too long, knowing that it wouldn't be long until one of the men intervened, she took a deep breath,

"We... um.. we.." JJ struggled to find the voice, whispering the words, hoping they would be able to hear her,

"We arrested a man... we ruined his life. You have one week to release him from prison, or they will kill us..." JJ looked down at the floor, he wasn't innocent, they never arrested an innocent man. Emily looked over at her, surprised and happy that she had managed to speak up, she watched as the camera was turned off and the men walked out of the room without another word to the two women.

"JJ?" Emily said,

"Speak to me please..."

"Leave me alone." She muttered, trying to look away from Emily,

"Don't push me away, I know it seems easier but don't do this..." Emily begged her, tears running down her face and dropping onto her lap,

"I'm sorry..." JJ whispered, before turning her head to look at the wall, doing her best to ignore her crying friend as tears of her own fell onto her lap.


	2. You can never leave your past behind

"Where is she? Where is my little girl?" Morgan turned around, facing two people who he could only assume was JJ's parents. He held out his hand and tried to smile at them, hoping it would give them the faith and hope that the BAU team seemed to lack at this moment of time,

"Mr and Mrs Jareau?" He took in their appearance, used to doing so with almost all the parents and other family members he saw on a regular basis, he could tell immediately that JJ was closer with her Dad, it was in the body language. He looked at the man, taking in his rosy cheeks, his dimple lines on his large face, his once bleach blonde hair, now fading into an almost Grey colour. Morgan looked at his eyes,seeing JJ in them as he shook his head and looked at the woman, she was a lot shorter than both JJ and her husband, her long, blonde hair went past her shoulders, Morgan could see the tear tracks down both of their faces and sighed. He knew that neither of them had anything to do with he missing FBI Agents, his missing best friends.

"Just follow me over here." He said as they both nodded, he smiled at the thought of JJ being brought up in a stable environment, from what he could tell within two minutes of meeting the couple, he had already been able to tell how much love they had for each other and their daughter.

"JJ's brothers are on their way, is that okay?" Morgan nodded,

"I am sure JJ will want all her family around her when we find her."

"My name is James by the way, and this is my wife, Jane." He blushed a little, embarrassed by his rudeness, Morgan shook his head,

"Morgan. I am one of JJ's friends and team mates. We will find her, we will put everything into this case, her and Emily, she is also with this team, we won't let anything happen to them." He saw the man grin at the name JJ, and Jane rolled her eyes, trying not to smile too much,

"JJ, I see you adopted that name for her as well." He winked at Morgan, still smiling, then looking at his wife,

"She doesn't like it, thinks it makes JJ sound too boyish, JJ of course loved it. Who wouldn't? I mean come on, she has four brothers, and she never liked Jennifer." He playfully nudged his wife,

"I refuse to call her that." She smiled at him and shook her head as they carried on walking towards the conference room,

"Have you had any news on them?"

"Not yet, but we are sure it will come through soon. There is no way the Unsubs could ever take two of the best agents and not want to brag about it." He sighed as he opened the door, nodding towards his friends and colleagues, pointing at Emily's parents and asking JJ's to go and sit next to them.

"JJ's parents?" Reid whispered, Morgan just nodded and sat down with his head in his hands, how could this have happened? How could they have let this happen to their best friends? How could he have got to them?

"It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyones fault." Hotch put a hand on Morgans shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, the man just nodded and went back to looking at the large white board, the smiling photographs of their two best friends looking back at them. Begging for them to save them from the hell they had been placed in, wishing that it would end soon.

Reid stood up and pinned up a photograph of JJ and Emily leaving the FBI and getting into their cars,

"They left here to drive home at 1am last Thursday." Reid looked over towards the parents, not sure if they should even be here for the briefing.

"So it's been four days so far... how long do you think we have?" Rossi spoke up, looking up from the case file for the first time,

"I honestly don't know.." Reid sighed, for once he was lost for words, could you even bring up statistics on the life of your friend and the woman you secretly loved?

"Guys you need to see this..." Garcia's voice boomed through the room as her face came up on the large screen, Morgan frowned,

"What is it?"

"You need to watch it," They could see the tears falling down her face as she typed, and then she was gone... replaced by a video, a much more sinister scene than any of them could imagine.

Morgan turned his head away and shook his head once the video was over,

"My perfect little girl..." He heard James whisper to himself, looking at his wife as tears fell down his face and hers, he watched as the Prentiss' reminds calm and collected, just like Emily.

"They broke her." Jane finally spoke up, everyone looked up at her confused,

"JJ... She wouldn't speak at first, she found it too hard then... I know my daughter, she went through something when she was nine years old and the only way she could cope with it was by shutting everyone out, by not even looking at anyone, she wouldn't talk, eat, drink... anything. She shut down...and now those bastards have done the same to her!" James shook his head as he tried to explain, trying to control the temper that was flaring up by the second, slamming his hand on the table and standing up.

"I swear to god... you need to find them soon. JJ she is fragile, she doesn't show it but we need to get her back to the hospital, before she goes too deep into depression this time." He looked up at the photograph of his daughter on the board and smiled at her as he touched it lightly,

"I asked her, no, begged her, not to do this but she insisted on doing so and now look what has happened!" He sighed and turned away from the photograph of his only daughter,

"We will find her," Hotch patted the man on the back and took him back to his seat, looking over at Reid,

"What happened to JJ when she was nine?"

"There was an accident, one of her brothers died... her twin brother, you never get over something like that. The loss of a sibling, the loss of a child. But we tried to cope, it was hard. It was horrible, the car... we didn't see it coming and the next thing we know, we are alive and our nine year old son isn't." Jane looked down at the table and played with the cup of water in front of her,

"Jennifer didn't cope well, they were so close, she was one of the boys." Jane smiled a little and then looked at her husband as tears fell down her face,

"It took three years for us to get her to speak again... she was in hospital for over half of that. There was only one way she could see it; Her brother had died, and she was alive. She thought she was being punished, and when she thought we didn't love her anymore, she thought we blamed her for his death, she shut down completely. We didn't see her smile properly again until her thirteenth birthday, when she finally realized that everything she had felt for the past three years was wrong, she could finally see the good things about his short life, and she focused on that. She knew he wouldn't want her to carry on living the way she was, she was back to our little JJ. She still spoke to him at night, prayed for him to be okay but she was happy and normal, just like I wanted my little girl to be." James looked up at the photograph again,

"If anything happens when she is there, she could have a massive relapse... are her and Emily close?" Jane finished off for him, she saw the looks the team exchanged and sighed, nodding to her own question,

"They are very close." Reid said regretfully,

"JJ, Garcia and Emily are like one big team, always out to get us." Morgan laughed a little and then shook his head, realizing he may never have that again,

"What I wouldn't give for one of those teasing sessions or pranks again." He whispered, knowing everyone in the room had heard him.

"We're going to get them back and JJ is going to be fine and so is Emily. They will protect each other, JJ has a different coping method from some of us, when Reid got kidnapped before.. he got through it and so will Emily and JJ, they have to." Rossi tried to reassure the team and himself before getting up and walking out of the door, determined to have this case solved before the week was over... well before the week was over. He wasn't going to let those two valuable team members get hurt more than they already were, and after hearing about JJ, he knew he had to find them soon and he was going to do all he could to do so.

**CMCMCM**

Morgan watched as their older team member walked out and then looked back towards his team and his best friends parents,

"We have one week to solve this, but we can do this well before the time limit. Let's treat this as though he said 24 hours."

"Why did he give us a week?" Reid frowned,

"He can do more to them in a week, he thinks it will make us not rush, he wants us to believe that nothing will happen to them in that week. He wants our guard down, but it's not going to happen..." Morgan sighed as he looked up at the screen, at the two beaten agents staring back at him, both of them trying to hide the emotions in their faces. Looking into their eyes, he frowned as he took a step closer,

"What do you see?" Mr Prentiss got up and stood next to him, trying to see the same thing,

"Look, the moonlight reflecting in their eyes, if you look over this way a bit," he pointed down at the floor, towards the light fragments,

"They are being held somewhere, the windows are barred..."

"A shed? Workshop?" Reid sighed and looked at the same place,

"How does this help?"

"If we know what they are being held in then we could find them a lot easier, now please let us do our job."

"I am going to meet our sons downstairs, can I bring them up?" Morgan looked behind him and nodded before walking over to the board and writing down _'held in an area with bars. Workshop? Shed? House?' _

"It doesn't round it down, does it?" Reid sighed as he sat down and stared at the frozen video in front of him, looking for another clue,

"No not yet, we need to figure this out..."

"We need to start looking through case files, start with looking at all of those who are on death row in the next week." Hotch nodded at them both as he walked out of the room and towards his own office.

Reid sighed,

"I will look for the death row prisoners, you look through the murder case files, remember over ten women, early 20's..." Morgan nodded,

"I know." He muttered as he got up and and walked out of the room, determined to get this case over and done with soon.

**A/N **

**I thought I would be nice to JJ's dad,I could see them getting along well for some reason. And I am not sure if JJ has ever mentioned her brothers and how many she has, I think she actually has before, but I thought I would add a little more to make her life that little more interesting. **

**This chapter had very little action, but a little JJ background there=D **

**As she is the best character in Criminal Minds, **

**Coming up soon **

**Back to JJ and Emily, are things going to get any better for them?**

**Will the team find them?**

**Will Reid ever tell someone that he loves JJ?**

**What are JJ's brothers like?**

**Coming soon in 'Putting Up Walls'**

**JJMerrick :)**


	3. Don't push me away

Emily gasped as she felt his fist make contact with her face, but she refused to scream out, she wouldn't give them the pleasure. She stared right him, not moving and spat at him. She could almost hear the team tutting as they watched the live feed right now, she knew she shouldn't piss him off anymore than he already was, but she needed them to know she was okay, she needed them to think she was strong, that she wasn't hurting. She didn't want anyone to think she was weak, she couldn't handle that. So she hid her shaking, she refused to cry while the camera or the men were in the room, she looked away from the camera when it was turned on as to hide her bruises and cuts that covered her whole body, more and more appearing every time she saw the men.

She could hear Morgan smashing something, punching a wall with every punch, slap, kick that JJ and herself received, she knew that if they were ever found he would probably beat the Unsubs near to death, he would make them feel the way they were making the two female agents feel.

She could see Hotch every time she closed her eyes, the man she so obviously had a crush on since she arrived at the BAU. He was trying not to cry, he was trying to keep it together for them and for the team. He was just like her – he didn't want to appear weak, he didn't want them to know how attached he was to each and every one of them.

She smiled a little when she thought of Reid, worried out of his mind but still sprouting off facts about them and their situation.

Garcia was probably crying, but trying to hold it back, she would be tapping away trying to get them found as quickly as possible.

She didn't know Rossi very well, he hadn't been in the team for a very long time, he would be the least effected by this because he wasn't attached to them like the rest of the team was. She sighed and shook her head, they had to get out of here soon, neither of them would be able to last much longer. Especially not JJ, she refused to eat and drank very little water, she wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer, there was a day before the deadline given to her team a week ago and maybe, just maybe, they would let them go after that.

Maybe.

Emily looked over at JJ and sighed, she had the same treatment as Emily, and like Emily, she refused to scream or say anything for that matter. She had got nothing out of JJ since the last video link in which they were forced to speak, and there was nothing she could do about it, not when she was tied down. If only they would let them out of the ropes, she could help one of the people she considered to be her best friend.

She winced when she heard a crack and snapped her head back towards JJ, looking for any sign of pain in the womans face. Almost crying as she saw the tears running from her beautiful, ocean blue eyes, Emily had to look away as she watched JJ bite her lip till it bled in order to stop herself from crying out in pain, never wanting to give them the pleasure.

She knew the team has heard the bone break as well, she could just imagine the look on their faces, Reid shutting up for the first time since the video link had been on and Garcia stopping to look at the video, waiting for any sign of life in her best friend. She looked over then, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in when she noticed the men leaving the room.

"JJ?" Emily whispered, hoping to God she would answer just this once,

"Emily..."

"Do you know which bone he broke or cracked?" Emily looked over her friend, biting her lip in worry, JJ slowly nodded,

"I think it was a rib, I think it's just cracked..."

"Shit. I don't want you to move at all, we can't risk it piercing anything." JJ nodded,

"Maybe it would be for the best, they have no intention of letting us go tomorrow..." Emily snapped her head up to look at JJ, longing to run over to her and hold her in her arms,

"They might, never give up hope okay?" JJ just slowly nodded and Emily gulped as she almost saw the shield JJ had seemed to create the past week, go up again and the distance returned in her eyes before looking the other way towards the blank wall she seemed to find so interesting.

"JJ,don't do this. Don't push me away." Emily said, knowing she would get no answer. Letting the tears fall down her face as she turned away and looked at the other wall, trying to think about how they were going to get out of this mess, wondering if JJ was right and they wouldn't be released tomorrow. Thinking about how this could be the last time she ever saw JJ again, the last people she would see would be those three men she hated so much, they took her away from everything she ever loved and she would never be able to forgive them for that – even if their brother was innocent of the crime he was in prison for.


	4. Today Was The Day

Today was the day.

Today was the day two FBI agents were going to die or live.

Today was the day that the rest of the BAU had to make sure they found the man that was responsible for putting them through this for over a week.

Yes, today was the day.

Garcia hadn't left her office all night, she was looking through the whole system trying to find a way to discover who this man was, and why they had her best friends.

The rest of the team hadn't left either, they all knew they had to do everything in their powers to save their team mates and friends.

Emily and JJ just sat in their cell in silence, knowing exactly what could happen today. Knowing that today could be the last time they ever opened their eyes, ever saw someone else, they may never see this life again.

Emily tried to stay strong; for both herself and JJ. She knew JJ was breaking down inside, even if she didn't want to show it. Her eyes glazed over, and her face remained solem. She didn't look at Emily once, she didn't want to appear weak in front of her.

"JJ I know this is hard, but we are going to get through this." Emily sighed, hoping she could get something out of her.

"Are we going to die?" JJ finally said, looking briefly towards her friend, tears running down her face.

"I will do everything to make sure we both get out of this alive and so will the team"

"I hope so..." She whispers, looking down at the floor.

"What's going on JJ? Why did you shut down like that?" JJ shrugged,

"We all have different ways of coping with things,that is mine." Emily nodded,

"You seem calm."

"Well believe me, on the inside I just want to scream and cry but we can't give them the pleasure." JJ nodded,

"We're going to be fine." She smiled a little at her friend, wanting nothing more than to hug her right now.

"They will find us in time, right?" Emily nodded at the question, then smiled back,

"They will, I know they will."

~ .. ~

"This is impossible, they have left us no clues, how are we supposed to find this brother of theirs? Is there even a brother?!" Morgan slammed down his hand on the desk, looking over at the board with the photographs of two of their team mates on, random notes had been placed on the board as well but it didn't look like the other cases they did. There was nothing left behind, nothing given to them except the three videos they had received. There was nothing for them to go on,

"Look, we have to look at this like we don't know the victims." Reid finally said, looking up at the board again and sighing,

"Pretend this is a normal case?" Garcia frowned,

"How can we do that? These are our best friends, they are on this team, how can we pretend like we don't know them?!" She stood up, looking at all of them,

"This could be our only way of finding them." Hotch finally spoke up, Garcia nodded and sat down,

"Why did it take you this long to come up with it then?" Morgan nodded and sat next to her, his hand on top of hers,

"We haven't been thinking clearly, we haven't been able to. We are just content on finding our friends but now we know that if we are going to find them before it's too late then this is the way to do so." Reid explained,

"Victimology." Rossi said simply,

"Okay, so we know that this is personal. This is aimed at the FBI, or more specifically the BAU." Reid started,

"The victims must have worked on the case along with us, it could have been any one of us they took."

"It's not sexual, they haven't raped them for all we know. They are violent, but only for the cameras." Morgan nodded, looking at the photograph of Emily – worried for both his friends.

"It could have been any one of us, this was an opportunity."

"They were taken in their homes though." Garcia said, looking at each and everyone of them confused,

"They were both unaware, we all didn't go home straight away that night. I stayed here, as did Rossi. Morgan and Reid went out to a bar, they were together in a public place, there would have been no chance." Hotch stood up, walking over to the board, writing opportunity on the board.

"And I was with Kevin all night, we went out..." Garcia said as they all looked at her, waiting for her response,

"Okay,so JJ was alone and so was Emily. They were the only ones out of all of us, so we have a reason why it was them.."

"This is all about revenge, they believe their brother has been wronged."

"And they believe that it's our fault, we put him away."

"They want an exchange, they obviously haven't thought into this, they think that we can get him out of prison straight away. They haven't looked into this." They all nodded in agreement, Reid took one more look at the board, staring at the still photographs of the videos.

"They are being held in some type of container, look at the sunlight lines, it's as though they are being held in a make believe prison cell."

"He wants them to know how his brother feels, he wants them to feel imprisoned. He wants them to understand what he is going through right now, the tight ropes, the chair, they can't move at all."

"They are too far away from each other to give each other comfort, he likes that."

"The constant beatings, the making them feel inferior to him... it reminds me of another case I looked at..." Reid ran out of the room, running to grab a certain case file,

"Reid?" Hotch watched as he ran out and then back in again, gripping the case file tight in his hands,

"I think this is it, I think we have him."

"What?"

"Look, James Jones, we investigated him a while back. Five victims, all women, none of them were raped. They were all beaten, gun shot to the head, he kept them all for a week. Tied them up, all alone, nobody to speak to, nobody to see. When we got involved he became desperate, he took two women, he had them for three days until we finally discovered who he was and caught him. They were both still alive, we saved them."

"So maybe this wasn't an opportunity? Maybe they needed two women to complete their brothers killings?" They all nodded,

"We have him, now we have to wait for their call." Rossi put his hand out for the file,

"He's going to kill them isn't he? Even if we do bring his brother?" Garcia gulped, tears falling down her cheeks,

"Not if we have anything to do with it." Morgan smiled, putting his hand on top of hers again and then gripping it tightly.

"Here we go." Hotch looked at the ringing phone, Garcia nodded, getting up to run to her own office quickly.

"Hello Mr Jones." Rossi said as he answered the phone,

"Finally you found out, you only have a few hours left now Agents." The man grinned into the phone,

"You know we cannot release you brother, not on such short notice."

"Well your agents will die then, do you want that on your back?" He shouted angrily into the phone,

"I don't think you want to kill them, you're not like your brother."

"I am more like him than you think." The whole team winced as they heard a loud scream coming from one of the girls.

"Do you want me to do that again Agents?" He spat at them, looking at the two girls next to him, he yanked JJ's hair and grinned down at her.

"Leave them alone." Morgan clenched his fist, shaking his head as he looked at the photographs of the two women.

"What was that Agent Morgan? You want to hear them scream?" He walked over to Emily, burning his cigarette on her arm, frowning when she didn't give him the scream he wanted. He saw her look over at JJ, nothing but worry in her eyes for the other girl, he smiled and walked back over to her.

"Me and JJ are going to have some fun now." He announced to the room, signaling for one of the other men to hold the phone while he put his hand around her neck, kissing her roughly on the lips. Emily shook her head, trying to get out of her binds. JJ closed her eyes as his hands found their way to her top, slowly taking off the buttons.

"Get off her!" Emily finally screamed, he grinned at her, winking as he walked back over to her and backhanded her across the face.

"Good girl," He whispered,

JJ whimpered and turned the other way as she tried to think of something else, anything else. She tried to imagine being somewhere else, with people she liked and enjoyed being with, with those she knew wouldn't hurt her.

Morgan looked at everyone else angrily,

"Don't test me." The man finally said into the phone,

"Sorry we won't do that again."

"I want my brother released or they both die. You have three hours." And then he hung up.

"We're going to have to do this, we're going to find a way to get the brother to them." They all nodded, walking out of the room to find their girls.

~ .. ~

A/N Long chapter for you here, I hope y'all enjoyed it =D

Read & Review 3


	5. Phonecalls & Tricks

James Jones looked up at the FBI agents in front of him and smiled, a cigarette in his fingers as he shook his head and laughed,

"Well they did say they would get me out of here, I didn't think they would do that though." He laughed again, ignoring the looks of hate he was getting from the men in the room with him,

"We need you to tell them to let them go."

"What will I get out of this?"

"We will transfer you to a lower security prison." James shook his head,

"No, I want a reduced sentence."

"How reduced?" Reid looked up at him for the first time since entering the room, he could think of nothing else but his two best friends – one of whom he loved more than anyone else – he thought about how while they were here wasting their time with this man, the key to the whole case, the two women were slowly and painfully dying.

"I don't know, ten years less.." He winked at Reid,

"Dream on mate." Hotch looked at the younger agent as he slammed his hands down on the table, looking the man straight in the eyes, challenging him.

"Five then but nothing less than that."

"Fine, five it is, but if you do anything while you're in here that increases your sentence that is out of our hands, deal?" Reid shook the mans hand, handing him the phone that the men were going to be calling any minute now.

He turned back around and sighed, leaning up against the wall, staring at the man across the table, wanting to just punch him or something for causing so much pain even behind bars.

"Hello." He grinned down at the phone when it rang,

"James! My brother!"

"Kevin, should have known you would have been the brains behind this whole thing!" He laughed loudly, ignoring the agents stares as he carried on talking,

"You know they can't let me go though, right?" He finally said, once he realized their patience was wearing thin,

"What?"

"It's impossible, they may have put me here but they can't take me out. But on the bright side I managed to get a reduced sentence, only thirty more years left!" He grinned again, laughing at his brother said something down the phone they couldn't quite hear.

"You need to let them go though." He flashed a look over at the agents, Hotch shook his head and mouthed something to him, he nodded, sighing,

"They want them alive I think."

"Shame, they would have been great to kill."

"Maybe when I get out of here." He winked at the agents, laughing as Reid was the one who lost his temper, watching Morgan grab him and hold him back.

"Fine, tell them to pick her up at this address." Hotch handed James a pen and paper,watching as he wrote down the address, snatching it off him as he handed it to Morgan.

"Say goodbye now." He smirked at the man before grabbing the phone off him,

"Forget about the reduced sentence as well. Next time I would ask for it in paper if I was you." He winked, grinning at the thought of finding the two women before running out after Morgan and Reid.


	6. Seeing Red

There was a large shot heard throughout the room as the man got off the phone, he winked at JJ as she looked at Emily in shock. She saw the blood first, then the look on her friends face. She shook her head, tears already finding their way down her face as she shook with she fear of one of her best friends dying, she could do nothing more than stare at the man in front of her. The man who had caused them so much pain, the man she loathed more than anyone else in that moment.

She didn't even scream as he hit her over the head with the metal bar he held in his hands, she wondered for a moment where the gun had gone, figuring it would be easier to die than to deal with the death of her best friend. She bit her lip and held back her tears when he hit her again, this time in the ribs, she knew one of them had cracked when he had but she still didn't say or do anything, not wanting to give him the pleasure of making her scream in pain.

He smiled maliciously at her, his eyes filled with pleasure as her head turned towards Emily. JJ's eyes widened with fear once she saw the extent of the wound, the amount of blood that was pouring from it. She wanted to do nothing more than to scream and cry for the possible loss of her best friend but she held it back, she knew it wouldn't help the situation. In a way she was hoping that she would piss the man off so much that he would go too far with her as well, and she would die along with her. In another way she knew he probably wouldn't, knowing in some sick, malicious way that this hurt more than anything else could.

She couldn't really feel the blows to the head after that, she saw the swift movements of the bar but she didn't really feel anything. She was numb already.

And then she heard the shouts coming through the door, she saw someone out of the corner of her eyes and then everything went black, she welcomed the darkness, she embraced it, wondering if she actually wanted to wake up from it.

Hotch looked at the scene in front of him, Emily shaking, the blood gushing from a wound to her stomach. He shook his head, running towards her, trying to apply some pressure on the wound before the paramedics arrived. He looked over at JJ, noticing Morgan was stood over the body of the man who had done this.

Reid ran over to JJ, kneeling next to her, his hand on top of hers as he tried to wake her up. His hand was soon covered in her blood and he looked down at his hands in horror, wondering when was the last time he had seen so much blood, wondering if it was possible for anyone to survive such a massive head wound. He nodded to himself, trying to forget about the statistics and instead focusing on the girl in front of him, telling himself how strong she was, nothing could break her, not even this.

He shook the images of the videos out of his head, glancing over at Emily. He saw how quickly she was deteriorating, hoping that help would arrive soon.

Morgan looked from one girl to the other, not sure who to go to. He just stood there in the end, trying to stop himself from crying. He had been too late, they could die, he told himself over and over again. He had never thought about losing either of them, trusting in the teams abilities to be on time, to help their own friends, but all hope had been lost when he had seen them both in this dark room.

Rossi just stayed behind, not sure what to say or do to comfort anyone in front of him. He bit his lip in anticipation, praying to God that the paramedics would get there soon, giving them both a good chance of surviving this horrible experience.

They all stood back and looked on as the two women were wheeled away, driven to the hospital at top speeds – only adding to the dire emergency they already knew was occurring.

"We were too late for them weren't we?" Reid finally said, tears falling down his face as he climbed into the SUV, waiting for Morgan to take off after the ambulance.

"Let's hope not." Morgan whispered through gritted teeth, tears blurring his vision as he followed the bright lights in front of him. He would get there no matter what, Emily and JJ were like his little sisters and he would do anything to protect them.

~ .. ~

They sat in the waiting room, all five of them, staring at the floor as tears rolled down their cheeks. Emily was in surgery while JJ had been taken for CT scans. This was all a horrible dream, they had gotten there too late, they couldn't think of anything else other than the horrible smell of blood in the room, the sight of the blood everywhere, some even splattered on the walls. Dried blood lay on the floor, and they wondered what could kill the two girls – new wounds or old wounds.

"Emily Prentiss." Someone finally said, they all looked up, hoping for good news, knowing it was the opposite once they met the doctors face.


	7. Coping Methods

They all looked at the doctor in front of them, shaking their heads, tears rolling down their cheeks – not single team member didn't cry that night.

None of them knew how to break the news to an already distraught JJ, instead they all sat outside her room, heads in their hands as they tried to think of a way to tell her. Morgan was the first to speak since they heard the news, he just looked around and stood up slowly, looking through the large window towards JJ. He noticed how pale and tiny she looked in the hospital room. He eyed the tubes running out of her skin, making her appear more fragile than she already did.

"I don't think she will be able to handle it." He shook his head, a lone tear falling down his face, he would mourn properly when he got home but he knew more than anyone that Emily wouldn't want them to blame themselves, she wouldn't want them to mourn her for long.

"We have to tell her though, it's worse to be kept in the dark." Garcia stood up finally, standing next to Morgan and looking at the small woman on the bed. She bit her lip as she stared at the bruises covering her face, she could hardly make out any of her pale, white skin.

"She has been through so much already, I don't know how she will cope with this..."

"She will get through this, we all will, we still have each other, right?" Garcia smiled at him as best she could manage at that moment, putting her hand gently on his shoulder before walking into the room.

They all watched as she told JJ, looking on as tears fell down JJ's face before she turned away from Garcia.

"She wanted to be alone..." Garcia whispered as she walked out, closing the door quietly behind her. They could do nothing but watch as JJ's body racked with sobs, not accepting any comfort not even from her two loving parents who had not long ago arrived.

They all stayed in the hospital that night, wanting to make sure JJ knew she had someone there when she wanted or needed them. She never did though.


	8. Family

"How could this happen. I don't understand." Morgan grabbed Garcia's hand, squeezing it gently as she spoke, none of them understood but it had happened and now they had to deal with the aftermath – no matter how hard that would be.

It had been a week, one whole week, they lost a best friend, a valuable team member and an amazing person exactly a week ago to that day.

"I will go check on JJ." Hotch finally broke the silence that had overcome the usually talkative group. They all slowly nodded, knowing it was better off he do it than anyone else. In the past week JJ hadn't said a word to any of them, she barely looked at them as though she blamed them. They all felt the same way, causing themselves to look at the situation from her point of view, knowing they would probably feel the same as she did. Emily had died, she had lived, they were too late...

Hotch slowly walked up the stairs of JJ's house, they had decided it would be better to have the service there as her house was surprisingly the biggest. He soon found her sitting in front of the mirror, just looking at her own reflection, slightly rocking back and forth with her arms around herself like she was protecting herself from someone.

"We have to leave soon," Hotch started, ignoring the small jump JJ had done when he walked in, he knew how scared she was but he also knew that she had to do this today. He was surprised when she spoke back this time,

"I don't want to go." She whispered, just loud enough so he could hear. Hotch took a cautious step towards the now shaking woman as she continued to stare into her own eyes in the mirror, as if she didn't recognise the person staring back at her – and if the team were to be honest they didn't recognise her either.

"Why not?"Hotch knelt down next to her chair, putting a hand on top of hers, glad when she didn't pull away, not for a moment anyway. He watched her shaking her head, quickly getting up to move away from him and his comfort she insisted she didn't need.

"Because if I go then it means she will never come back, it makes it that much more real than it already is and I don't think I can handle it." Tears fell down her face, she couldn't hold them back any more and for the first time that week since she had found out, she couldn't be bothered to hide her pain.

Hotch took a large but slow step towards her, she knew he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and let her know that everything was okay but she couldn't accept anyone's help, not when her best friend, her fellow captive, was dead and she was still here.

"She should be alive! I shouldn't be standing here right now because Emily was amazing, she was the best agent.... because she..." All of a sudden the sobs came out and she found herself collapsing into Hotch's strong arms. Her clammy hands clung onto his shirt, soaking it within seconds with the whole weeks worth of tears, she let him wrap his arms around her shaking body and she did the same to him, her head on his chest as she tried to stop herself crying.

"Just get off me!" She finally shouted at him, shaking her head and pushing him away, both of them surprised by her reaction, both thinking she was finally going to be able to let go. She ran to the other side of the room, not knowing what to say or do right then, watching the hurt in Hotch's eyes almost broke her heart but she couldn't stand to get close to someone else.

"It's okay to be angry, it's a normal reaction." She could feel her face redden, more tears fall down her face as she turned away from him for a moment trying to calm herself down, instead turning around and walking towards him, just like she would the press,

"I am not angry Hotch, I am pissed off!" She wanted to hit him or something so much then but decided her job meant too much to her as she turned around and knocked off a large vase of her drawers instead.

"Why couldn't you save her? Where were you? Were we not as important to you as all the other victims we have rescued over the years? Why didn't you come in time? Why?" Hotch realized that something had finally snapped in JJ, she was looking for someone to blame because thanks to Morgan, there was no man to blame any more, and that was all she needed – she needed someone to look at and tell them that it was their fault that her best friend was dead.

"We had nothing to go on, no clues, nothing. There was no trail, Reid thought of it on the last day – finally. I know it shouldn't have taken us that long, and it actually meant we cared about the both of you more than you could imagine. It distracted us from our job and as much as I wish it hadn't, it was almost the same as when Reid was taken. We wanted him back, you two weren't victims, you were friends, good friends, colleagues. We should have been able to save her but we were too late and we are deeply sorry for that." JJ shook her head in disbelief, finding it hard to believe that Hotch hadn't put her in her place after her small screaming fit at him. Instead she found the kindness and love in his eyes she had been craving for so long. She couldn't believe what she was about to do but she knew he wanted it to as she moved forwards, her lips soon meeting his, and in that moment she forgot all the blame she held for everyone she had ever loved, and instead focused on the good times.

She looked up at him, blushing a dark shade of red as she leaned into his broad chest, tears still running down her face as she wailed,

"Why did they put me and Emily through so much just to kill her?" Hotch held her as tight as he could, unable to find an answer for her, hoping his embrace would offer some form of comfort to the sobbing woman he held in his arms right then.

~ .. ~

The whole situation seemed to unreal to the team as they found themselves sitting in the large church, surrounded by so many people that Emily must have grown up with, family, close friends and even victims she had helped along the way.

JJ sat in the middle of Hotch and Morgan, mostly because she hadn't let go of Hotch's hand since their time in her bedroom before and because Morgan hardly let her out of his sight since the hospital. Garcia was on the other side of Morgan, a tissue in her hand as she dabbed at her already red and wet eyes. Rossi was sitting next to Hotch, his face expressionless as he looked at the coffin in front of him. JJ looked over at Reid, his eyes were red and anyone could tell he hadn't had a good nights sleep in a long time – none of them had.

It wasn't until halfway through the service that it hit JJ where she was and why she was there. Hotch realized as well, her hands suddenly tightened in his, her eyes finally gave into the tears she had been trying to hold back. He wrapped his arm around her, letting her head lean on his shoulder as she sobbed for a friend she had lost. For the friend they had all lost.

~..~

It wasn't long until they found themselves back at the house, watching as mourners paid their last respects to the girl they would so dearly miss. The team stuck together, mostly because they didn't recognise anyone else there, partly because they were still trying to protect each other from any possible dangers.

Hotch sat down with his team once it was all over, looking at them all one by one, seeing a light smile in each persons eyes – even JJ's for a moment but as quickly as that had come for her it was gone – and in that moment he knew they were going to be okay. Emily was gone, but she would live on through the memories they had of her, and the way they thought of her.

Because that's what families are for, he reminded himself, even when things get bad, really bad, even if someone leaves, there is always those left behind. That's what real family is.

~ The End ~

Please Review!

Would love to know what you all though!

Chelly


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